The invention relates to a conveyor and lubricating apparatus, a lubricant dispensing device, and a method for applying lubricant composition to a conveyor. In particular, the lubricant composition is sprayed onto the conveyor in discrete pulses to provide a desired level of lubricity between the conveyor and items being conveyed on the conveyor.
Lubricants are conventionally applied to conveyors in bottle processing plants to reduce friction between the conveyors and the bottles being conveyed on the conveyors to reduce incidents of bottles tipping over. The tipping over of bottles at a bottling plant requires manual intervention by an operator resulting in loss of productivity. In addition, fluid from bottles may cause the conveyers to become sticky and result in additional tip over of bottles. Bottles that are conventionally processed on conveyors in bottling plants include cans, glass containers, and plastic bottles. A common type of plastic material used to form plastic bottles includes polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Bottles that are commonly processed on conveyors include 20 ounce, 24 ounce, half liter, 1 liter, and 2 liter bottles.
A type of lubricant composition that is commonly applied to conveyors in bottling plants is a fairly dilute aqueous system that is continuously sprayed onto the conveyor. Certain lubricant compositions have a tendency to look messy because they are foaming on a conveyor or drip from a conveyor.
A conveyor and lubricating apparatus is provided according to the invention. The conveyor and lubrications apparatus includes a conveyor and a dispensing device. The conveyor includes a conveyor surface and is provided for transporting items on the conveyor surface. The dispensing device provides a spray pattern of a lubricant composition onto the conveyor surface. The dispensing device includes a nozzle that generates the spray pattern, a lubricant dispensing line that supplies the lubricant composition to the nozzle, a nozzle valve that opens and closes in response to the pressure conditions within the lubricant dispensing line to control flow of the lubricant composition to the nozzle, and a spray valve constructed to move between a first position and a second position, wherein the first position causes pressurization of the lubricant dispensing line and the second position provides depressurization of the lubricant dispensing line. The dispensing device can include two or more nozzles and nozzle valves constructed to operate in response to a single spray valve. In addition, the dispensing device can include two or more spray valves that separately control dispensing of the lubricant composition through separate nozzles and nozzle valves.
A dispensing device is provided according to the invention. The dispensing device provides a spray pattern of a lubricant composition and includes a nozzle, a lubricant dispensing line, a nozzle valve, and a spray valve.
A method for applying a lubricant composition to a conveyor surface is provided according to the invention. The method includes a step of periodically spraying a lubricant composition onto the conveyor surface to reduce the coefficient of friction between the conveyor surface and items conveyed on the conveyor surface by applying the lubricant composition through the dispensing device. The step of periodically spraying can include spraying the lubricant composition through a nozzle at a pressure of at least about 20 psig for between about 1 second and about 20 seconds at a frequency of between about 1 minutes and about 10 minutes.